Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on lethal injections means California is a step closer to resuming executions. They’ve been on hold in the state since 2006

California uses the same lethal 3-drug cocktail upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a Kentucky case. In a statement, Governor Schwarzenegger said the ruling supports California’s lethal injection protocol. But the state has another hurdle before it can resume executions. In 2006 U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel sided with death row inmate Michael Morales that California’s execution methods were unconstitutional. Corrections Spokesman Seth Unger says the Morales case can move forward, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in:
“The federal judge here in California still does have to rule on the specific protocols that we have put forward that are specific to California.”
Judge Fogel also found California’s lethal injection chamber was too small and cramped. The state recently finished building a new one.